From August 31 through November 3, 2002, the Philadelphia Museum of Art
presents an installation by Richard Hamilton (b. 1922), a leading figure in the British Pop
Art movement whose intense dialogue with Marcel Duchamp’s ideas and working
processes led him to complete a replica of the artist’s most important work, The Bride
Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass). In this sixth in a series of
Museum Studies installations by living artists created specifically for the Philadelphia
Museum of Art, Hamilton has produced an elegant, computer-generated diagram of
Duchamp’s Large Glass, over which he has superimposed the English translations of the
artist’s working notes, so that each painted element is reunited with the written ideas that
preceded it.

Typo/Topography of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass (2001-02) will be hung in
the Museum’s Duchamp Gallery (182) adjacent to the Large Glass itself, providing
visitors with the unique opportunity to see Duchamp’s intricate thought-processes at
work, and discover the mystery and complexity of his ‘magnum opus.’

Hamilton’s obsession with Duchamp’s intellectual process began in the 1960s. He
published two major translations in English of the artist’s notes and studies, and executed
(at long distance but under Duchamp’s guidance) a painstakingly accurate, full-size
replica of the Large Glass, which stood in for the original, fragile work in Philadelphia at
the Duchamp retrospective exhibition that he organized for the Tate Gallery in London in
1966. Now 80 years old, Hamilton continues to share Duchamp’s fascination for
language, eroticism, and how things function, whether organic or mechanical.

"We are delighted that Richard Hamilton will present his most recent, inspired
research into Marcel Duchamp’s art and thought in this wonderful project for the
Museum, home to the largest collection of Duchamp’s work in the world," said Anne
d’Harnoncourt, Director and CEO of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Having arranged
the notes on the map according to their designated areas on the Glass, Hamilton’s
remarkable diagrammatic interpretation allows us to traverse the mysterious terrain of
Duchamp’s two glass panels with an impeccable guide, thus opening up the work for new
levels of understanding and enjoyment."

Occupying the spot in the Museum that the artist selected for it in 1954, the
endlessly enigmatic Large Glass dominates the Duchamp Gallery, where it continues to
surprise and delight the visitors who gaze at and through its transparent surface. "A
marriage of typography and topography, Hamilton’s computer-generated image of the
Large Glass fulfills at last Duchamp’s stated desire to create a work of art that could only
be understood through the conjunction of word and image, in order to prevent purely
esthetic responses to it," said Michael Taylor, Associate Curator of Modern and
Contemporary Art and organizer of the installation.

To fully appreciate the Large Glass, the viewer had previously to consult the
artist’s numerous notes and sketches, which had been reproduced in facsimile editions in
Duchamp’s lifetime, and are on view in Gallery 182. Since these notes, mostly written in
his native French, were published loose in boxes with no preconceived order, the task of
interpreting the Large Glass was always as elusive, perhaps, as the bachelors’ quest for
the bride stripped bare.

The Hamilton installation is accompanied by the publication of a limited-edition
print of Typo/Topography of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass. Modeled on a fold-up road
map, the print will be available in the Museum Store, by calling (800) 329-4856, or by
visiting the Museum’s Online Store at www.philamuseum.org.

Hamilton’s Attic (1995), a computer-generated work from the Museum’s
collection, will also be on view in the Museum during the run of the exhibition. The work
includes a study known as Sieves that the artist made in 1965 while working on his
reconstruction of Large Glass. One of the most influential British 20th-century artists,
Hamilton was a pioneer in the Pop-Art movement. His works comment on contemporary
life, politics, literature and popular culture. He studied at the Royal Academy in London,
served as an engineering draughtsman in the army during World War II then resumed his
studies at the Slade School of Art. He has been honored with three retrospectives at the
Tate Gallery. A lifelong fan of James Joyce’s modernist epic Ulysses, Hamilton spent
decades creating illustrations based on the novel’s themes. His work was recently the
subject of the exhibition, Imaging Ulysses: Richard Hamilton's Illustrations to James
Joyce, at the British Museum and the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

Inaugurated in 1993, the Museum Studies program invites contemporary artists to
create works that engage various aspects of the Museum. Previous initiatives were
developed by artists Gabriel Orozco, Sherrie Levine, Lawrence Weiner, Richard Long,
and Rirkrit Tiravanija.

We are Philadelphia’s art museum. A landmark building. A world-renowned collection. A place that welcomes everyone. We bring the arts to life, inspiring visitors—through scholarly study and creative play—to discover the spirit of imagination that lies in everyone. We connect people with the arts in rich and varied ways, making the experience of the Museum surprising, lively, and always memorable. We are committed to inviting visitors to see the world—and themselves—anew through the beauty and expressive power of the arts.

For additional information, contact the Communications Department of the Philadelphia Museum of Art phone at
215-684-7860, by fax at 215-235-0050, or by e-mail at pressroom@philamuseum.org. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For general information, call (215) 763-8100.